Have any Car Repairs

I wanted to share my view on any car repairs you will ever have. I have had a few in the past and I want to pass on this information on how to save money when you come to a point when your car needs to be repaired in any way.



If you know what is wrong then all the better because it will help you out, but most likely you will not know what the problem with your car is. First you need to call around and tell them that your car needs to be looked at and when they can look at it. Some require an appointment. Next ask what is the price to get it looked at. This can range anywhere from $40 - $90. Most call it a diagnostic fee. Most car repair centers have specialized computers that run your car through a diagnostic test and it reports what is wrong. They like to tell you that once they find out the final price to fix your car then this fee is not applied. So take your car to the place you found and the car repair shop will then call you later with a quote on what it will take with parts and labor to fix the car. They will give you just one price. Then you need to ask for the breakdown of the quote including all part numbers and costs for each, labor time and labor costs of each and write it down. Before moving on, you need to know where the price point is. If it is less than $150-$300 you probably just need to say fix it to the car place. This can be iffy sometimes because you might be able to still repair cheaper but it might cost you the same. Also this only works if you are willing to wait for your car to get fixed longer then what the car place will quote you.

The next step is the most critical. You need to ask the car place if they can wait and see if you can find some of those parts yourself instead. (This is tricky, because they could always charge you for delays or holding fees so make sure you ask if it is okay to try to find some parts yourself if it takes a couple of days to a week). They usually tend to work with you. They like to see if you can find cheaper prices. Car places might even match the prices you can find. REMEMBER TO ASK again to see if they will charge you anything else while you try to get parts. If they do try to charge you for any holding fees then you need to do your best to get your car back or out of there as quickly as possible and just pay for the diagnostic fee. The main part was just to get a quote on what parts and labor was needed. Last step is try to find the parts yourself and get the labor done yourself or get the best price for the labor too.

For example, I got a quote for only 1 part I need on my last car problem. The part itself was going to cost me $338 through the car place. I found it on the internet for $55. I had the car place install it for me though. I had to pay for the diagnostic fee even though they said it would get applied to whatever they do, but it still saved me over $200. So they charge a lot for all parts and liquids. Even try to get any Coolant, oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid from walmart or a local car sales store. Again they were trying to charge me $28 for coolant and I got it instead for $9 at walmart for the amount they needed. Labor work is approx $70-$100/hour for any work done. So getting your car repair manual would save a lot of money if you have tools. Some things you can repair yourself. Again the toughest part is just to find out what is wrong.

Hopefully this will be helpful to you for the future.

Almonds

Just wanted to say that I am obsessed with Almonds. It can only be the plain non-salted ones. I don't like them in any chocolate. It is the main gift I wanted for Valentines day and that's what I got! They are actually very good for you too. Yes, I know that is an interesting snack, but I like it better than all candy.

PBS show on "The Mormons"

Today was my day off like usual each week and it was nice to relax. My kids watch some of PBS shows and during the weekend I saw that a show called "The Mormons" was coming on later on PBS. I decided to go ahead and Tivo it to watch it later. It was 2 hours long and I watched it today. It started okay with the early history, but after only 5 minutes they already were badmouthing the church. I found out that it was Part 1 of 2 in this 2 hours. The main people that they had on the documentary it seemed were Historians and people not in the church. If you look up the program on http://www.pbs.org/mormons/ it actually lists some people and they have more nonmembers or excommunicated members than members commenting. And when the members did comment it was short, while the excommunicated and nonmembers were given more time. It was apparent that they were trying to focus on the outskirts and contriversal issues than on what the people and truths were. Polygamy seemed to be the focus for 45 minutes of the 2 hour show. Also the Mountain Meadows Massacre filled another at least 15 minutes of the show. I was very disappointed in the show. You can watch it online on the link I have provided. I haven't seen Part 2 yet, but probably will soon.

IRAQ

My brother Kevin has passed along an interesting article that an LDS person has written about the conflict in iraq. It can be found at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/ashton2.html.

It has some interesting points and some truths so why does (I think) most LDS people support the U.S. still in Iraq including me? I wanted to share my view and what I am thinking. Again, this is only my view.

First this article starts talking about the Book of Mormon's views on war and when it should be used for from Alma 43:47 and 48:14. Which I totally agree that you should go to war to only defend your land, country, liberty, rights, religion, and lives including family. Also sometimes to help others to defend their land, country, liberty, rights, religion and lives. The Book of Mormon shares the doctrines of the kingdom. It was not meant to be historical and teach about every little thing not doctrinal. I think Alma probably wrote more about this war and what the Nephites did after and before each battle and war and why, but that is not the purpose of the Book of Mormon. It's main purpose is to convince everyone to come unto Christ. So what was the specific details that went on after each battle or war we do not know, which I think the author tries to specify or assume too much like saying that it was the policy of Captain Moroni of letting the lamanites sort out their own government affairs. Does the author really think we are aggressively slaughtering the people there in iraq instead of trying to defend ourselves and other iraqis?

I also didn't like how this person interpreted Captain Moroni's after war moves. I don't know the exact things Captain Moroni did after he won his battles but why could he not help the lamanites. He prepared the Nephite lands against further attack but, why couldn't he do that also by sending missionaries or teaching the lamanites. Maybe even teaching them laws and principles including government principles including maybe democracy. Where does it say that we can't stay in those lands that we make "instable" to help the people, even to help defend them. Maybe they can even ask for help, like many countries have in the past. So we try to do our best to do what we can. Right? Even using the Spirit and revelation as our guide.

Now back to the principle that war should be used to defend your country, liberty, rights, religion, and lives. The main question that this doesn't answer is at what costs do you defend your country, liberty, rights, religion, and lives. After we were attacked by Al-Qeida on 9/11 what were we to do to defend ourselves? Wait and defend just the U.S. only or go invade and attack Afganistan's taliban? Even though Al-Qeida is not a country? After we got attacked by Japan in WW2, what were we to do to defend ourselves? Get back our lands and just defend or invade Japan lands? Even drop the Atom Bomb? What defending did we do with Vietnam and Korea? I think each war or conflict there can be an assumption made about defending something of those things we should. It doesn't mean that those assumptions are right or wrong, but something I know will be that the people in charge will be held accountable to our Heavenly Father for those actions if they were right or wrong. I wish there could always be Peace, but I know that in this earth life that cannot be the case.

So, going back to the main question about why I still believe we need to be in Iraq is because the people are needing our help to DEFEND themselves and their new country, rights, religion, and lives. I liken it to the Nephites and Ammon who helped the people of Anti-Levi-Nephi defend themselves. Alma 27: 1-12, 23-24. After the lamanites were destroying the people of Anti-Levi-Nephi, the Nephites helped in defending them. So should people take action to defending others sometimes? YES! I even think some will be held liable for not taking any action when some people need defending. The author of the article keeps saying that even if we were defending ourselves at the start of Iraq, then that authority (Saddam Hussein) is no longer there and we aren't defending anymore. Tell that to the people still getting directly attaked by the militants, or trying to take away their rights. The question that I ask is that are we still helping Iraq defend itself? So the question is when does it change away from defending?

February is here already?

February is already here. It is amazing at how fast time goes faster when you get older. Tanner had his surgery and went well to untie his lip and was fine right after. Carie turned 30 this past week as well. We went out to eat at Olive Garden, Our best place to eat! and rented a movie to watch. Elizabeth, the golden age. Kindof disappointing movie, I don't recommend it. We also rented a movie for Tanner called, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." He is obsessed with this one movie that has 4 episodes on it. I remember watching it when I was little and it was pretty cool. Now I can't stand it. lol. Carie has told me that she is going to buy a new TMNT DVD for his birthday next month. Lindsey has been getting into trouble more and more, but she is too cute to be mad at for too long. She has been testing the boundries. I guess we are in the Terrible two's. Tanner was not bad at all until three, but girls go through things earlier and hopefully faster than boys.

Geographically challenged

Just was watching Tonight show with Jay Leno and they had this clip, "Jaywalking" where Jay goes out near a public place and ask questions to people. This time he was looking for High School students and asking them about geography questions. Amazing how these Teenagers don't know the continent that Iraq is in, Or what language Great Britain speaks, Or what does the Panama canal connect. Are some kids growing up not getting a Geography class? Same thing when we watch, Smarter than a 5th grader. I admit I haven't known the answer to some questions from the show, but when I see some dumb people on the show it makes me wonder if education is getting worse in our country. No wonder Carie keeps telling me how scary the kids are educated around here. She tutors twice a week at a private institution and is amazed at how little some kids know.

Lindsey is so funny, she likes to sing and dance a lot of the time now. Twinkle, Twinkle little star is her favorite to sing. I will try to get it on video soon. Tanner is having his surgery to remove his tougue tied lip this week. He has not been getting good sleep though because Lindsey has been keeping him up and it is affecting his behavior, especially at school. But he did a great job on Friday and got to play with a friend and go to the Park.

Snow and Cold

It snowed yesterday Saturday Jan 19 here in GA. We got about 2" on the ground but it didn't stick on the roads. We still have a little left on the grass and areas but I don't think it will stay long. Tanner and Lindsey were excited and played in it for a while. It is amazing what closes down here in GA when it barely snows and gets colder than 32 degrees. Even at BYU when we had over 16" of snow one weekend, we still had school and church like any other day. I took a few pictures of the kids playing and hope to get them on here the next few days.

Recent Events and News

Things have been busy for us lately. Carie is moving along on with the pregnancy and is about 20 weeks. 1/2 way there. We have the official ultrasound tomorrow, but we already know it is a girl due to an earlier ultrasound done. Also, we just scheduled Tanner's surgery, just to fix Tanner's tongue tied problem. His tongue is tied all the way to the tip and is affecting his speech. Just a little cut on Feb 1st. We have been trying to finish cleaning our house from the holidays. Got all decorations down and almost put away. Got my new HD off the air antenna mounted and up on the roof with the help of my dad and it does a pretty good job for the HD Tivo I got for Christmas. I just need a HDTV now. I've been trying to figure the best way to convert video to MPEG2 so that it can be put on the Tivo. Other than that, work is going good and we like to play board games with family and friends as often as we can.

Tanner about 2 years old
first learning to play hockey.

VoteMatch - Which Candidate do you line up with?

Today was the Iowa Caucus that starts the year with the big presidential election in November. Carie and I were discussing how we still didn't know a lot about the candidates so we decided to go to a website and see what they stand for and how we match up with them. The website is http://www.speakout.com/VoteMatch/senate2006.asp?quiz=2008. It has 20 questions from Strongly Support to Strongly oppose things. My #1 with 63% Match was Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney #2 at 58%. Carie's #1 was Mitt Romney at 53% and then Mike Huckabee #2 at 48%. Pretty interesting. No surprise for both of us that our lowest match for both of us was Hillary Clinton around 25%.

Why start a blog?

I have gotten two lessons in Church each of the past 2 weeks about keeping up your history and writing in a journal. So I figure that a new goal that I could do would be to start and keep up a Blog. Because I think I will be better at updating a blog then writing in a journal. Also being Jan 1, 2008 today would be a good goal to start with this year.

A little about me. Jeffrey William Brown born Dec 11, 1976. Oldest of 6 kids. Graduated from South Gwinnett High School in 1995. Served a mission in the Idaho Boise Mission from 1996 to 1998. Got Married to my sweetheart Carie Elizabeth Sheffield on Aug 10, 2001. First child (M) Tanner William Brown born on Mar 16, 2003. Graduated BYU Summer 2003. Second child (F) Lindsey Elaine Brown born Dec 30, 2005. I am currently a Business Sales Supervisor for Best Buy.


First, we are expecting our Third Child! Due date in late May but will be early May probably because our other 2 children have been 3-4 Weeks early. We just got an ultrasound and it is going to be a Girl. We are already having a hard time coming up with a good name we can agree on but we are narrowing it down. Had a Family get together for New Years eve tonight and played games and did the usual Fireworks outside.

Secondly, I want to put down a recent wager my brother Scott and I have on Technology. The wager is if a 37" LCD HDTV which is now around $600 average price, will be about $300 average price in 5 years. If it is under $300, I win.